Providence College
 
   Information Technology – Help Desk – Wireless – Connecting to PC-Secure

 

Connecting to PC-Secure

PC-Secure is our encrypted, more secure, wireless network. It utilizes 802.1x authentication and WPA encryption. It is only accessible by current Providence College students, faculty, and staff who have an active Providence College email account.

If you are a guest of the College, you should contact the Helpdesk at 401-865-4357 for instructions on connecting to our guest wireless.

If you are a member of the student body, faculty, or staff, you should follow the proper instructions below.

Note: Wireless networks are inherently less secure than wired networks. Sensitive and confidential information should not be accessed over wireless networks.

 

Connect using Windows XP

Connect using Windows Vista

Connect using Apple MacOS X

Connect using Linux with NetworkManager

 

 

 

Connect using Windows XP

  1. Choose the Control Panel from the Start Menu.

  2. Double-click on Network Connections.

  3. Right click on Wireless Network Connection and choose Properties.

  4. Click on the Wireless Networks tab at the top and you should see the following:



  5. Click Add and you should see the following:



  6. Enter PC-Secure in the Network Name (SSID) box.

  7. Change Network Authentication to WPA.

  8. Click on the Authentication tab at the top and you should see the following:



  9. Change EAP type to Protected EAP (PEAP).

  10. Uncheck "Authenticate as computer when computer information is available".

  11. Click Properties and you should see the following:



  12. Uncheck "Validate server certificate".

  13. Click Configure and you should see the following:



  14. Uncheck "Automatically use my Windows logon name and password (and domain if any)".

  15. Click OK on each window that was open.

You should now see a message that says "Click here to select a certificate or other credentials for connection to the network PC-Secure". Click that message and a window will open asking for credentials. Enter your Providence College email username and password in the respective boxes and leave the Logon domain box blank. Click OK and you should be connected to the Internet.

 

 

 

Connect using Windows Vista

  1. Choose the Control Panel from the Start Menu.

  2. Choose Network and Sharing Center.

  3. Click on Manage wireless networks.

  4. Click Add.

  5. Click Manually create a network profile and you should see the following window:



  6. Enter PC-Secure in the Network name box.

  7. Change Security type to WPA-Enterprise.

  8. Change Encryption type to AES.

  9. Click Next.

  10. On the next window, click Change connection settings.

  11. Click on Security at the top of the new window and you should see the following:



  12. Be sure that Protected EAP (PEAP) is selected under "Choose a network authentication method" and click Settings. You should now see the following:



  13. Uncheck "Validate server certificate" and click the Configure button near the bottom.

  14. Uncheck "Automatically use my Windows logon name and password (and domain if any)".



  15. Click OK on all open windows.

You should now see a message that says "Additional information is required to connec to PC-Secure". Click that message and a window will open asking for credentials. Enter your Providence College email username and password in the respective boxes and leave the Logon domain box blank. Click OK and you should be connected to the Internet.

 

 

 

Connect using Apple MacOS X

  1. Click on the Airport icon in the menu bar.

  2. Click on PC-Secure.

  3. Enter your Providence College email username and password in the respective boxes.

  4. Click OK.

  5. On the warning about the Certificate, click Continue.

You should now be connected to the Internet.

 

 

Connect using Linux with NetworkManager

These instructions work with any Linux distribution that uses NetworkManager. They have been tested and verified to work with Ubuntu 7.10 (NetworkManager 6.x) and Fedora 8 (NetworkManager 7.x), but should work fine with other distributions.

  1. Click on the NetworkManager applet in your system tray to bring up a list of available wired and wireless networks. Click on PC-Secure.



  2. A prompt for authentication to the PC-Secure network will appear. The following fields should be set (some may be set automatically):
    Wireless Security: WPA & WPA2 Enterprise
    Authentication: Protected EAP (PEAP)
    Anonymous Identification: (leave blank)
    CA Certificate: (None)
    PEAP: Version 1
    Inner Authentication: MSCHAPv2



  3. Enter your PC email username and password, then click Connect.

  4. A prompt telling you that no Certificate Authority has been chosen may pop up. This is not important, so you may check Don't warn me again and click Ignore.



  5. You should be connected within a few seconds.